Greater than a decade in the past, I used to be recognized in my neighborhood because the native resident Seattle Seahawks knowledgeable. I used to be working a small, family-owned grocery retailer on the time, and I made the rule that the Seahawks video games HAD to be on (not one of the different staff cared about soccer, however this was the one time in my life I shamelessly power-tripped my workers). Positive, I watched a ton of hockey and basketball there too, however folks got here to speak to me to ask for Seahawks updates, or simply to know what was happening with the roster and even to easily bemoan a current loss or teaching choice. Time flies. And it feels prefer it will get quicker day by day… which is partially why I’m considerably shocked myself to be even penning this.
Earlier this month, I made the excruciatingly tough choice to depart the Subject Gulls writing workers. Whereas my rationale for doing so is certainly optimistic (new job and a brand new profession in a new-ish area), it nonetheless hurts. In plenty of methods, this gig was a dream come true. Actually, let me rephrase that: this job has been a dream come true, interval. I’ve been studying Subject Gulls for nicely over a decade, and it appeared like an impossibility that I might even have a Fan Publish featured on the entrance web page, not to mention articles printed underneath my very personal byline.
Sure, my time on the Subject Gulls writing workers is coming to an in depth, however earlier than I’m going, I need to go away you all with some ideas. Significant ones. In addition to meaningless ones. And even just a few which are someplace within the center. So let’s begin with…
Issues I obtained proper
That the Seahawks would think about Dee Eskridge within the second spherical, regardless of being largely seen as a Day Three prospect.
Issues I obtained flawed…
That Dee Eskridge would turn out to be a fixture of the offense…
Issues I discovered
That John Gilbert is definitely method nicer than some folks would possibly assume he’s.
Issues I want I discovered earlier…
That ingesting and tweeting throughout late-game collapses is rarely advisable.
And that it doesn’t matter what, having a soccer workforce to root for is so a lot better than not having one, even when they suck majorly. I spent method too a few years ready for that second ring, when in actuality I used to be glossing over the very best soccer that this state has ever seen.
I need to wrap issues up by saying this: outdoors of the NFL, I’m an enormous fan of school hoops. My workforce is the Zags (I’m from Spokane, haters), and each single yr we get disenchanted to see them go down within the match. F-ck, I nonetheless have nightmares in regards to the sound of the online each time Baylor drained one other three within the Natty. However the factor is, there’s something magical about that point earlier than your workforce has a hoop/trophy/and so forth. Yearly feels particular, prefer it might be the one. That is how the Seahawks felt to me for thus a few years. I had nightmares in regards to the Pittsburgh Steelers and the… questionable officiating in Tremendous Bowl XL. However I nonetheless spent each season after that saying issues like “possibly they’re only one Billy Volek away from being contenders,” as a result of that’s the pleasure of a middling franchise with occasional moments of greatness — you get to dream, and nothing is simply too loopy, as a result of even making the playoffs appears far-fetched. The Seahawks won’t ever have one other yr that “feels just like the one,” as a result of they are going to by no means have one other one; they’ll solely have one other one.
Such is the worth of success; Pete Carroll’s greatest mark on Seahawks soccer could merely be that he endlessly modified the best way we — the followers — would view the game. On and off the sphere. For these of us following the workforce for a number of many years or extra, I feel it’s honest to say that this degree of sustained success didn’t appear attainable, even in the course of the peak-Holmgren years. So if being a bit bit jaded is the price of seeing my favourite workforce win a Tremendous Bowl, then so be it.
Whelp. Goodbye y’all. Search for me within the remark sections, I received’t be far-off.